In reality, if someone else wanted to get involved in this matter, Zhu Yijun wouldn't even answer. However, Zhu Yijun still had to consider their feelings. He couldn't hurt their patriotism.
After all, the two of them were loyal to him and Daming. It was difficult for them to risk their lives for this.
"I have a memorial here. You can take a look!"
Zhu Yijun thought for a while, then reached out and handed Li Maocai's memorial to Zhang Jing, who was next to him.
The two of them were stunned. Read the memorial?
However, they also knew that this memorial was related to the matter they had mentioned before. They didn't dare to look down on it. They quickly and respectfully received the memorial from Zhang Jing.
Wang Yongji flipped open the memorial. When he saw the words "Please stop the business tax", Wang Yongji's heart skipped a beat.
The more he read, the uglier Wang Yongji's expression became. This memorial was a heart-wrenching one. All the words on it were distortions of the truth.
It directly labeled the Emperor as a tyrannical ruler and labeled the business tax as an evil government.
Splashing dirty water on the Emperor like this was extremely sinister. It even brought up the matter of the officials and gentry collecting grain as one.
This was obviously provoking the Emperor's anger!
Thinking of this, Wang Yongji looked up at Zhu Yijun. When he saw that Zhu Yijun's expression didn't change, he let out a sigh of relief.
He turned around and handed the memorial to Li Biao. Wang Yongji waited for Li Biao to finish reading the memorial.
After Li Biao took the memorial, he quickly read it and immediately became furious. "Your Majesty, this person is slandering the Emperor and misleading the public. I ask Your Majesty to allow the Imperial Bodyguard to capture this person and put him in Zhao Prison for interrogation."
Glancing at Li Biao, Zhu Yijun smiled and said, "Isn't that exactly what I want?"
"If such a thing were to happen at this time, Li Maocai's name would definitely be known all over the world. His ideas would also be spread out. At that time, I'm afraid that countless people would submit memorials to him."
"Once it causes chaos, will we still collect the business tax?"
"They want to mess up the business tax, but I don't want to!"
Zhu Yijun looked at Li Biao and said with a smile, "That's why I'm going to keep this memorial in the palace. As for this Li Maocai, I'm going to promote him. Although I'm not a wise ruler, I'm still willing to listen to the opinions of my subjects."
Zhu Yijun glanced at Zhang Jing and slowly said, "I remember there is a vacancy in the Ningxia Guard, right?"
Zhang Jing hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty is wise and mighty. There is indeed a vacancy in the Ningxia Guard. Old Slave will go and pass down an edict to the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel to transfer Sir Li to Ningxia."
In reality, neither Zhu Yijun nor Zhang Jing knew if the Ningxia Guard was really lacking people.
However, if the Emperor said it was lacking people, then it was definitely lacking people. There were many people who wanted to be transferred back from the Ningxia Guard. That was a place that was even more bitter and cold than the northwest. Every day, they had to eat the northwest wind and eat sand. No one wanted to be an official there.
Zhu Yijun nodded and said with a smile, "A talent like you, Li, should be put in an important position."
"Zhang Jing, go and keep an eye on him. Try to arrange for people from Dongchang to accompany Li Maocai to take up the post in the Ningxia Guard. Don't let him get sick on the way. If he can't take up his post because he's sick, it would be a Daming loss."
The meaning of Zhu Yijun's words was very clear. It was that Li Maocai had to go whether he wanted to or not. There was no room for discussion.
Wang Yongji and Li Biao didn't have any reaction to Zhu Yijun torturing their officials like this, especially Li Biao. He felt that the Emperor's punishment was too light. This kind of person should be thrown into the Imperial Bodyguard's Zhao Prison and let him have a taste of the Imperial Bodyguard's punishments.
"We have been thinking for the past few days. Is there only one Li Maocai in this world?"
Zhu Yijun looked at the two of them and sighed. "I'm afraid that's not necessarily the case. There are probably many people who oppose our business tax.
This policy is like controlling a flood. Rather than blocking it, it's better to let it flow. "
"Since they oppose it, then we will see how they oppose it."
Zhu Yijun looked at the two of them and said in a deep voice, "Therefore, the matter of you going to Jiangnan is not suitable for the time being. We feel that the timing is not very suitable. Let's see after a period of time!"
Although Zhu Yijun's words were still vague, from what Zhu Yijun had done before, it could be seen that Zhu Yijun was not as simple as giving up easily. He was obviously going to stir up trouble.
What did he mean by seeing how they oppose it? To put it bluntly, he wanted to see who would jump out and then push back whoever jumped out.
If he pushed back, it was definitely not over just by suppressing them. The two of them couldn't say that they knew this young emperor of their family very well, but they weren't far from it. With the personality of their family's young emperor, it was likely that this time, he would raise the butcher's knife high again.
Wang Yongji was a little worried. If he really started a massacre, would it cause a big mess?
"Your Majesty, I don't think it should be so intense."
Wang Yongji said with some hesitation. He also knew that saying this would probably make the emperor unhappy, but Wang Yongji felt that he still had to say it.
On the other hand, Li Biao, who was on the side, was full of excitement. He didn't care about the fact that the emperor had just decided to let Li Maocai go.
When Zhu Yijun trained these people who came from the inner factory, he basically focused on legalism, supplemented by various kinds of loyalty and patriotism to the emperor.
Each of them was a person who would not hesitate to kill people. What they advocated was order and law.
Except for the emperor, they didn't care about anyone else. They were simply a group of people who didn't care about their lives. As for the chaos, they didn't care at all. It was better to be chaotic. Only when there was chaos could there be governance.
In the dictionary of legalism, only great chaos could lead to great governance. There were no exceptions.
"Lord Wang, forgive me for not agreeing with what you said!"
Before Zhu Yijun could speak, Li Biao had already said, "These people are like the abscesses growing on Daming's body."
"Only by cutting them off can Daming be healthy and strong."
"We can't not cut off the abscesses just because of the pain of cutting them off. If we let these abscesses grow, in the end, Daming will be beyond cure."
After saying this, Li Biao bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I think we should cut off these tumors on Daming's body with the determination to cut off the bones to cure the poison."
"If anyone dares to come out and cause trouble, I am willing to lead the Imperial Bodyguard to quell the chaos for Your Majesty."
"If anyone dares to rebel, I am willing to personally lead the Imperial Bodyguard as the vanguard of the army. Even if I die on the battlefield, I won't regret it.
Your Majesty, please don't tolerate evil. I beg Your Majesty! "
After saying this, Li Biao knelt on the ground with a thud and put his head on the ground.
Zhu Yijun looked at Li Biao, laughed and said, "Good, very good. My beloved subject's words have deeply touched my heart. That's right, I will bring out the determination of a warrior to cut his wrist and scrape his bones to cure the poison."
"As for the matter of you going to the battlefield, I think we should forget about it."
"It's not that I doubt your loyalty and ability, but I can't let you and the Imperial Bodyguard do everything, right?
There are more than 300,000 soldiers in the capital's barracks. You have to give them a chance to establish themselves. "
"Otherwise, if those generals want to find trouble with you, I won't stop them."
Hearing Zhu Yijun say this, Li Biao smiled and said, "I was rude!"
Zhu Yijun nodded. What he said was a joke, but it wasn't a joke either. On one hand, it was to tell Li Biao that he was very satisfied with his attitude, but he also didn't want the Imperial Bodyguard to stretch their hands too far.
"You, do you still have any objections?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Yongji and asked slowly.
"Your Majesty, I have no objections. These people have no ruler or country, so they should indeed be severely punished. I only hope that they won't cause too much chaos."
Wang Yongji said in a deep voice, "The imperial court has a strong army, Your Majesty is wise and mighty, and the generals are even better at war."
"But if there is chaos, the ones who will suffer are the common people. What wrong do they have?"
"The common people are Your Majesty's people. They have the ruler and the country in their hearts. I hope that Your Majesty will investigate this carefully!"
Looking at Wang Yongji, Zhu Yijun didn't say anything for a long time. In fact, for so long, whatever he said about Wang Yongji made Zhu Yijun develop an illusion that Wang Yongji was an official who would listen to him and do things.
Now, Wang Yongji's behavior made Zhu Yijun remember why he used Wang Yongji in the first place.
Zhu Yijun remembered very clearly that Wang Yongji was a bad chancellor. Back then, he had also impeached Zhang Juzheng. He felt that Zhang Juzheng monopolized power and had lost his duty as an official. At the same time, he was upright and had principles.
Now, it seemed that Wang Yongji was still the same Wang Yongji. Zhu Yijun couldn't help but feel a little emotional.
There was a sentence in Wang Yongji's memorial that Zhu Yijun still remembered. That was, "From this official's point of view, there is nothing in the world that is not private, and there is no one who is not private. Only Your Majesty is a public servant." Even now, Zhu Yijun was deeply touched by this sentence.
"Wang, I remember that you are from Fujian's Quanzhou Prefecture, Jinjiang?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Yongji and asked.
"Replying to Your Majesty, this official is indeed from Fujian's Quanzhou Prefecture, Jinjiang." Wang Yongji quickly replied.
"Quanzhou is a prosperous place for sea trade. What business does your family do?" Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Yongji and continued to ask.
Hearing Zhu Yijun's question, Wang Yongji's heart instantly sank. Could it be that my words just now angered the Emperor?
Did I make him think that I was speaking on behalf of the sea merchants?
The Emperor didn't have a good impression of the sea merchants. This was something that Wang Yongji knew very well.
"Your Majesty, this official!" Wang Yongji wanted to say something but was interrupted by Zhu Yijun with a wave of his hand.
Zhu Yijun said with a smile, "As the saying goes, rely on the mountain, rely on the water, and there is nothing wrong with relying on the sea to live off the sea. There is nothing wrong with your family doing business. After all, the salary that I give you is not enough to support your entire family.
"I believe that a gentleman should obtain wealth in a proper way. Paying taxes is something that should be done."
"I understand what you mean. You can rest assured that I will not implicate the entire family. I will only punish the main culprit."
Zhu Yijun patted Wang Yongji's shoulder and said with a smile, "So, you can do whatever you want."
"Just like you, I also know that most of the officials in the court have businesses in the sea."
"I can understand all of this. What I don't understand is that these people actually don't want to pay taxes. As Daming officials, they don't even have this bit of awareness. How can I expect them to be diligent and love the people?"
"You also have to understand my painstaking efforts."
Zhu Yijun's words were very clear. He wanted to make a move on some people. Most of these people were probably officials, but he wouldn't make a move on all of them. He wouldn't look into the businesses of the officials.
Wang Yongji had obtained a guarantee from Zhu Yijun. As for the actual situation, he could only find out when the time came.
"Your Majesty, this official understands." Wang Yongji hurriedly bowed.
Zhu Yijun nodded and then said with a smile, "In that case, the two of you, you can go back first!
Make the preparations first. Don't be anxious. Very soon, there will be a place where you can use your skills. "
After the two left, Zhu Yijun said to Zhang Jing, "Is Xu De here?"
"Your Majesty, Eunuch Xu is already waiting outside!" Zhang Jing hurriedly said.
Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "Let him in!"
Not long after, Xu De walked in from outside. After seeing Zhu Yijun, Xu De directly knelt on the ground and kowtowed. Then she said, "This servant, Xu De, greets the Imperial Majesty!"
Waving his hand, Zhu Yijun said casually, "Alright, get up!"
After waiting for Xu De to stand up, Zhu Yijun slowly said, "The court is going to levy commercial taxes. Commercial taxes are very important to the Daming and me.
The most important commercial taxes are in Jiangnan.
I want you to go to Jiangnan and keep an eye on them for me. "
"Mobilize the people in the inner factory and keep an eye on them. Remember this, just keep an eye on them. No matter what anyone wants to do, don't do anything. Even if someone wants to rebel, just keep an eye on who instigated it."
"Understood?"
Xu De hurriedly bowed and said, "Rest assured, Imperial Majesty, I understand!"
Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "Li Shenxing is now in Nanjing. You can go to him and help him deal with Li Dan's matter. He should be able to help you."
"Travel light. Don't let anyone know that you have gone to Jiangnan, understand?"
"Imperial Majesty, I understand!" Xu De quickly nodded and agreed.
After waiting for Xu De to leave, Zhu Yijun let out a sigh of relief. He walked down from the Dragon Book Mountain and went straight to the outside of the main hall.
It was June. Although the capital hadn't started to catch fire yet, it was already very hot.
Zhu Yijun looked at the distant sky with an indifferent expression on his face.
Nanjing, the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yamen.
Li Shenxing was in a bad mood these days. There was nothing wrong with Li Dan. As long as the Emperor's imperial edict arrived in the capital, he would be able to complete this matter.
Li Shenxing was in a bad mood because of the commercial tax.
Although Li Shenxing hadn't seriously investigated it, as the general director of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Li Shenxing's strength in Jiangnan was not weak. He could feel that the wind in Jiangnan was not right.
Obviously, many people felt uncomfortable with the commercial tax this time, and many people wanted to cause trouble.
Previously, the new goods of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were given to the He family, and the He family bought sea trade goods at a high price. In addition, the imperial court suppressed the silver price. Many people were already dissatisfied, but this matter couldn't be brought out in the open.
Now that the imperial court had imposed a commercial tax, many people found an outlet for their dissatisfaction.
Although the imperial court asked him to keep an eye on the commercial tax, Li Shenxing felt that with the strength of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to handle it!
If he was not careful, there would be a big mess. At that time, he wouldn't be able to absolve himself from the blame even if he died ten thousand times!
The most important thing was that he didn't want to die because of this matter!